A mobile app that can spot a fake watch, medicine or other counterfeit good with 100 per cent accuracy could be available to consumers by early next year.

The hologram ‘fingerprints’ that are typically used to demonstrate a product’s authenticity have become increasingly inadequate as advances in technology mean fraudsters can replicate them relatively cheaply and easily.

But this new technique, developed by researchers at the University of Lancaster, creates a signature that is around a thousand times more complex and impossible to reproduce.

Wonder material

It does this by creating an identity tag made from a groundbreaking material known as graphene that is just one atom thick. This is stuck on the product.

The material is so thin it is referred to as being two-dimensional. Shining a light on this ‘2D’ material reveals the graphene sample’s unique, naturally-occurring configuration of atoms – or fingerprint – each of which is stored on a giant database.

Developers say customers will be able to confirm whether a product is real or counterfeit using an app on their mobile phone.

“Working on an atomic scale is an entirely different thing. One of our tags has a thousand billion billion atoms in it. So if I want to produce the same tag I would have to arrange a thousand billion billion atoms and put them together in exactly the same way.”

Rob Young

“A hologram is basically a microscopic array of dots around a thousandth of a millimetre wide. That creates very fancy patterns – but these are now relatively straightforward to make, so a counterfeiter can produce a hologram almost as easily as the manufacturer,” said Professor Rob Young, of the University of Lancaster.

“But working on an atomic scale is an entirely different thing. One of our tags has a thousand billion billion atoms in it. So if I want to produce the same tag I would have to arrange a thousand billion billion atoms and put them together in exactly the same way,” he added.

Natural imperfections

The reason the arrangements of atoms vary is because of the natural imperfections, which occur in every structure. So each time, the arrangement of atoms will be slightly different, giving a material an unique signature, just like a fingerprint, Prof Young said.

“So if you go on holiday and buy a medicine you can scan them to see if they’ve been recalled, see if they’re genuine, still in date or not. It’s all about empowering the end user, he said.
Counterfeit goods are a major problem across the world. In many cases it results in people being ripped off by paying top prices for a fake luxury item such as a fancy watch of diamond ring. But in other cases it can be far more dangerous if, for example, a person buys a crucial counterfeit medicine.

The new technology is being developed by a company called Quantum Base. The graphene material it is based on won the Nobel Prize in 2010 or being the thinnest and strongest in the world.

How it works:

When light is shone of the 2D material, tiny imperfections shine causing the material to emit light. This glow can be measured as a signal, unique to that small section of material. The signal can then be turned into a number sequence which acts as a digital fingerprint. The small flakes which are invisible to the uman eye and 1/1000th of a human hair can then be added to everyday items such as money, credit cards, passports and gig tickets. A smartphone app can then read a photo to tell the unique signal from the flakes and detect whether the product is genuine or fake through the right fingerprint or the wrong fingerprint.

The University of Lancaster’s fake-busting technology will be on display at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition at its London headquarters running from today (Tuesday) until Sunday night.

The 22 exhibits include:

The Magic of Mixed Reality: This will demonstrate Hololens, a wearable holographic computer that senses depth and geometry and has applications in education, research and industry.

Heart in your hands: This will enable punters to synchronise their heartbeats to a robotic heart and find out how scientists are using technology to combat heart disease. You will also be able to make your own ultra-dirt repellent smart surfaces – which could one day be used in hospitals, reducing the need for antibiotics to fight infection.

What’s in a voice: Our voices – which we use everyday for ordering coffee and gossiping with friends – are the most complex sound in nature. They tell us information about ourselves including our age, sex and where we come from. A team from University College London will demonstrate how they are using MRI scanning to image the brain and to make moving images of the human vocal tract in action. They can observe in real time the ways that vocal cords move, the way we breathe when we use our voices and how this relates to the sounds we make.

We know that sometimes it’s easier for us to come to you with the news. That's why our new email newsletter will deliver a mobile-friendly snapshot of inews.co.uk to your inbox every morning, from Monday to Saturday.

This will feature the stories you need to know, as well as a curated selection of the best reads from across the site. Of course, you can easily opt out at any time, but we're confident that you won't.

Oliver Duff, Editor

By entering your email address and clicking on the sign up button below, you are agreeing to receive the latest daily news, news features and service updates from the i via email. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will not pass on your information.